Bordeaux 2009 Primeurs: Pomerol
Much of what I have already written in my account of the wines of St Emilion in this vintage also applies here. This is hardly surprising; after all, the two appellations abut one another, as can easily be appreciated from the front steps of Cheval Blanc, the vista before you featuring both L’Évangile and Vieux Château Certan, with the spire of Pomerol’s famous church just behind. Perhaps more significantly – in this vintage especially – they major in the same varieties of Vitis vinifera, particularly Merlot but also Cabernet Franc.
And so just as was the case with St Emilion, here we have a broad range of wines which take us from ethereal high to over-alcoholic low, with everything in-between. It seems only right to focus on those that have achieved of course, and the most obvious candidate for study is Vieux Château Certan. Tasted in the chai this wine was a model of classical restraint, linear and defined, and it is not difficult to imagine that this ethereal character might reflect a higher percentage of Cabernet Franc than is usual. In fact that is not the case; although the vineyard here is 60% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc, with 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, the blend for the 2009 vintage is 84% Merlot and 8% each of the two Cabernets. So once again we have a Merlot-heavy cuvée – as was the case at Cheval Blanc – when the vineyard would suggest a much larger role for Cabernet Franc was possible. As was discussed at Cheval Blanc, not all the right-bank Cabernet Franc was of the same high standard that was found with the left-bank Cabernet Sauvignons.
